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Schools warn parents after increase in students vaping

Herald News - 2/16/2018

BRIDGEWATER - Parents used to be concerned about their kids smoking cigarettes.

But now the most common way to way to use nicotine among high school students in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control, is by electronic cigarettes.

The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District is warning parents about vaping and use of juuls becoming more common among their high school and middle school students.

"The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District would like to provide BRRSD parents/guardians with some important health information pertaining to a new trend that is becoming increasingly prevalent amongst our youth, vaping and juuling," Derek Swenson, the school district's superintendent, said in an email to parents Tuesday.

Vapes, also known as e-cigarettes, heat up liquid nicotine, liquid THC from marijuana, flavorings or a combination of all them, to generate an aerosol, commonly called a "vapor," which the user inhales.

"Vape products were created by the tobacco industry to replace lost customers of cigarette smoking, which has been steadily declining over the years," as stated in the school district's health bulletin.

One of the most popular vape products is the juul vape.

"The technology creates a strong ?throat hit' and delivers bursts of nicotine to the user," as stated in the health bulletin about juuls. "One pod - which might be shared with a group of friends in one hangout, or consumed over the course of a few days by an individual user - contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes."

"We have seen a spike in the number of students vaping and juuling in our middle and high schools over the course of the last month," Swenson said.

In Massachusetts alone, 45 percent of high school students have said they have tried vaping at some point, according to the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey which was performed by the Massachusetts Department of Education.

Nationally, in 2016, over 11 percent of high school students said they used e-cigarettes and more than 4 percent of middle school students used them, based on data from the CDC.

Similar to the B-R district, the use of vapes over the years has steadily increased nationally.

"Please know that vapes and juuls are delivery devices for marijuana as well," Swenson said.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 66 percent of students who reported using vapes said they used it for the flavoring, 13 percent said they did it for the nicotine and nearly 6 percent said they used vapes for marijuana.

Because vaping is relatively new, it is too soon to tell what long-term consequences it will have on users, researchers say.

However, some problems from vaping have already appeared, including ear, eye and throat irritation, chemical residue left behind, popcorn lung, which is an "incurable medical condition that results from long-term exposure to a flavoring chemical called diacetyl that is found in both traditional cigarettes and many e-juice products," stated a health bulletin attached to Swenson's email.

"It is ideal to interrupt early experimentation before a habit or dependence sets in. Sometimes young people are simply bored, curious, or are participating so they can fit in or feel cool," the health bulletin said. "Regardless of the reasons provided, early use is a major risk factor for a host of problem behaviors later and should not be taken lightly. Remember, most young people are not vaping. If your child is vaping, it's reason for concern."

"Please feel free to call the school nurse's office at your child's/children's school/s or your health care provider with any questions and/or concerns," Swenson said.